The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-05-21


a heavenly Father to whom even the
hayward prodigal is unspeakably pre-
cious, to whom the last, lost lamb stray
ing far away from the gates of gold, is an
object of unspeakable yearning; whose
love will never rest, until that lost lamb
is safely recovered.
/ know full we'll how the Christ idea of
God has been abused and perverted and
denied. know how ignorant men, bigot-
ed and superstitious men, have dared to
stand in Christian pulpits and preach
sermons upon what terrible thing it is
to fall into the hands of the living God.
L know the cruelties of former ages, the
| Crusaders, who in the name of God,
slaughtered the Saracens till blood ran
knee deep in the streets of Jerusalem.
| But still I insist that all these terrible
dogmas that have made God an infinite
monster are not to be found in the teach
ings of Jesus Christ. They are foreign
to the gospel, of heather origin, and have
no place in Christian pulpit. Jesus
saw God as our Heavenly Father, who
sends his rain upon the just and the un-
just, that all may have more abundant
life. In what respect can we hope to
improve this conception Of God? We can
go back to the pagan notions of the past
and conceive of him as cruel and ar
bitrary despot.
We can borrow from Japanese theolo-
gy, notions that would be refreshing TO
the most austere Calvinist of former
days; or we can come forward and using
a poetical fancy as statement of sober
philosophy, talk of "a stream tendency
sweeping through the ages y We can use
the most brilliant and polished utter
ances of hating agnosticism. But how
UNNECESSARILY inferior do all these ideas
appear, when we contrast them with the
pure and simple faith of Jesus Christ.
| How his "Our Father in Heaven" is
worth world of philosophical specula-
tions as to the origin of the race, or of
the most eloquent orations upon the prog
ress of philosophy. That goes to the root
of the matter, and gives humanity the dig
nifty of divine Fatherhood and invests
the eternal silences with the wondrous
beauty of Fathers presence and Fa-
theirs love. For the soul that enters into
the higher meaning of the Fatherhood of
God the spaces are peopled with friendly
helps. And though surrounded by sor-
row, disappointment and death it rises
triumphant over all opposition to chant
the poems of a victorious fate. That
transforms the universe and puts a new
| glory upon the career of the human race.
1t is no longer the victim of the fates
blindly weaving the destinies. 1t ceases
to be the sport of chance. But under
the guidance of an infinitely wise, loving
and powerful Father, able to do all that
infinite goodness demands should be
done, it marches on to its destiny. The
single thought of a Heavenly Father
able to punish the wicked and bless the
| good, have been the most powerful of all
thoughts to keep the world in order, and
guide the race in its onward march. 1t is
not claimed that it was never stated be.
fore its utterance by the Master. But
| from his mouth it comes with such force
completeness, breadth and directness
that it become a working power when
he gives it to the world.
IL. Following close on the doctrine of
| HoL 4 - he
brotherhood of man. From time beyond
memory the philosophers have been as
busy as bees over the relations of men to
each other, the foundation of society and
the basis of government. Cicero says
"Impute nothing to me as alien that
concerns humanity" and then goes home
and reviles his wife because she has not
exposed THAT If, taken to some waste
place and cast away, to be devoured by
the wild beasts) two little girl babies
born to a slave woman in the house,
But Christ cuts clear and shining path
through all these difficulties and gives a
solid truth on which all social and do
nestle movements can rest, and in which
all governments and civilizations can
find strong and reliable basis, and that
foundation is the doctrine of the brother
hood. Christ binds up the entire human.
ity-the lofty and noble with the sinful
and the weak, into sublime unity. He
teaches us to say "our brother man." be-
cause we say sour father God" The
two go together; the one explains and
illustrates the other.
There is favorite term of social science
in its modern development, which we
often hear on the lips of the students,
and that term is, the solidarity of the
race. The eminent Frenchman who first
set it forth, with the charms OF his cult
ured enthusiasm, won great fame. He
taught the unity of the race-the identity
of it's nature and the oneness of the ma
tions. 1t is grand thought and invests
the study of history with peculiar
charm. But long ago Christ gave the
same thing to the world, and the great
apostle to the Gentles, in his sermon
on Mars Hill, gave it force and direct
ness unsurpassed in modern thought.
! The brotherhood of man is the central
! thought Of modern civilization. 1t &C.
cents its humanities and inspires all its
charities. Modern society rests on it,
and however imperfectly it may appre-
bend this divine doctrine, and however